Schooling, Family Background, and Adoption: Is it Nature or is it Nurture?

Abstract:     
When parents are more educated, their children tend to receive more schooling as well. Does this occur because parental ability is passed on genetically or because more educated parents provide a better environment for children to flourish? Using an intergenerational sample of families, we estimate on the basis of a comparison of biological and adopted children that at most 65 percent of the parental ability is genetically transmitted.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 34

Keywords: Intergenerational mobility, human capital, genetic transfers, adoption

JEL Classification: I21, J13, J24

working papers series